I have been called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines Cauayan Mission. This blog is managed by my parents. If you would like to contact them, you can email at lindalarson1598@gmail.com

Monday, February 24, 2014

Ang Kapangyarihan ng Espiritu Santo

Or as properly translated...the power of the Holy Ghost. Yesterday, I was asked to be the concluding speaker during sacrament meeting. And I was asked just before the rest hymn, which totaled to be about 4 minutes of preparation, give or take a few seconds. However, I think I did a better job on my talk than I did as the pianist last week (which by the way, I did open my talk with an apology to the ward for my piano playing. Gotta love those bonus points for attempting to crack jokes). Considering my preparation time given, I decided a fairly safe route for my talk would be to share my favorite scripture-the one on my mission plaque back home-Moroni 10:4-5 and go from there. As I told Sister Rahlf just on Tuesday at our last quarterly interviews, this has been my favorite scripture since seminary in 9th grade. But even in the moments of when I was giving my talk, my appreciation for these verses grew even deeper.

I shared the scripture and explained how when we pray with real intent and faith in Christ, our Heavenly Father is willing to give us our answer and he does it through the Holy Ghost. Then, in the middle of my talk, when I wasn't exactly positive on what else I was going to say, I was prompted to share an experience from when I was in Cabarroguis of a time when I was given something by the power of the Holy Ghost after I had prayed with both faith and intent.

Then and there, within my talk about the Holy Ghost, the Spirit gave me spur-of-the-moment direction on what I should say. Mind=Blown. My dear brothers and sisters (looks like I'm still in talk mode), I know for a fact that if we didn't have the Spirit as our guide, missions would be of no use. We would simply be average young men walking around in shirts and ties trying to convince people our church is good. However, when we have the Holy Ghost with us, that is what connects us with those that we teach. That is what brings them closer to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, and that is what leads to true conversion.

Sister Agustin remains to be hesitant about her decision and neither her or the Paggao family was at church yesterday, so it looks like we will have to try and give them a baptismal date for a different day. It is kind of frustrating to see that they have come this far while not knowing what else to do to help them go that little but further, but all we can do is keep trying. However, we did have an investigator-Grace Pielago-attend church for the first time yesterday. We only recently started teaching her and she is always interested during the lessons, so hopefully she can continue to progress.

Earlier today, we received the transfer list, and it looks as if Elder De Guzman and I will have another cycle together. To be perfectly honest, it has been a little difficult for me for the past few weeks so it wasn't particularly thrilling news. Similarly to when I had to leave Cabarroguis, I don't exactly know why things happen sometimes, but God does and if he needs us together for 6 more weeks, I am ready to go and do his will and hopefully the two of us can continue to help the hastening of the work.

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